Instagram Testing New ‘Time Spent’ Feature To Help Users Handle Social Media Addiction

Instagram is testing a feature which reveals how many hours a user spends on the app. This feature was revealed by a popular computer student, Jade M. Wong, who is known for revealing the code for end-to-end encryption in the DMs of Twitter and Bitmoji avatars in Facebook app. She revealed that this feature is included in the Usage Insights.

“Instagram is testing ‘Usage Insights’ to show the amount of time users have spent on the app. Be self-aware or be prepared to be ashamed for Instagram addiction,” she wrote.

Instagram. Photo: Pinterest

Before now, it was revealed that since the Stories feature was added, people spend an extra 32 minutes or more on the app.

“Those under the age of 25 spend more than 32 minutes a day on Instagram, on average, while those age 25 and older spend more than 24 minutes a day,” a third party monitor noted.

People will be able to access this feature by accessing their profile page.

Apple is also not left out in this as Tony Fadell has said that Apple is also trying out a “Digital Health tool” to help with parent-children relationships. This tool will enable a parent know how much time their children stay glued to their screen.

Also, Google has also announced that it will introduce a feature which will perform the same function but for the Youtube app. They opine that this is a part of a “digital wellbeing” initiative to help people strike a balance with their online addiction.

At the moment, applications such as Circle and Moment perform this function.